Welcome to Trouble Free Pool

We would like to welcome you to TFP, the webs leading Pool related website. We invite you to please Register to create a new account. Doing this will give you full access to the forums, where you will be able to receive personalized advice concerning your pool. We hope to see you soon!

Winter closing questions....

Hi there. First season with pool and trying to get ducks in a row for closing it.
Currently I still have solar cover on...more to keep more chlorine and keep dirt/leaves out....but I think it's keeping my water temp too high so where I can't "close" the pool yet. It's sitting around 75 degrees with daytime temps in 70's...a few 80's recently. Maybe I should take it off, vac and add bleach to slam level and cover with winter cover till temps drop below 60?

Just got the winter cover in mail yesterday. I ordered Rugged mesh winter cover by Arctic Armor. Soooo it will let water thru. I plan to secure with 2" spring clamps from local big box store. 2 per upright. I don't want to have to buy floaties to keep cover suspended due to added $$. Can I lay cover right on water since it's mesh or will I have a mess in spring? We get a lot of wind where pool is situated so I'm hoping wind will blow any leaves right off. We never have leaves to rake in our yard....they blow right thru.

I'm confused on if I need to lower the water 6" below the return eye or buy a plug for the return and just lower 6" below skimmer. Or I saw a few folks leave the return eye open and let excess water drain out to prevent rising. Our return eye is 2-3" below bottom of skimmer so with winter snow/rain the water will most likely reach the eye.

Thanks, these questions seem elementary but after reading so many posts i couldn't find a clear answer.

Re: Winter closing questions....

Maybe I should take it off, vac and add bleach to slam level and cover with winter cover till temps drop below 60?

I wouldn't close until the pool temp is consistently below 60F.

Originally Posted by maieranne

Can I lay cover right on water since it's mesh or will I have a mess in spring? We get a lot of wind where pool is situated so I'm hoping wind will blow any leaves right off. We never have leaves to rake in our yard....they blow right thru.

If the wind keeps the leaves off, then you should be fine with that approach. If it does get leaves, then you may want to get those off (or use a float to help keep them from saturating). I think, from what you have said, that I would try without floatation.

Originally Posted by maieranne

I'm confused on if I need to lower the water 6" below the return eye or buy a plug for the return and just lower 6" below skimmer. Or I saw a few folks leave the return eye open and let excess water drain out to prevent rising. Our return eye is 2-3" below bottom of skimmer so with winter snow/rain the water will most likely reach the eye.

Since your return eye is fairly low, I would try a plug in it this year and drain your water 6" below the skimmer.

Re: Winter closing questions....

Getting that solar cover off really does help the water temp drop quickly...I sudo closed mine 2 weekends ago when water temp was still 68 (put the winter cover on to keep the leaves out and circulate pump 4-5 hrs/day while keep levels maintained). It's now cold enough to fully close (drain water down below skimmer & return, super chlorinate for winter and shrink wrap around edges of cover to prevent wind from getting in). BTW, my first year closing was last year, did not use a pillow under cover and worked out just fine. You will always have some debris on top of the cover in spring (unless you're lucky enough to know have a single tree in yard or in neighbor's yards) but not that difficult to remove.

Re: Winter closing questions....

Thanks redhdgirl!
I got the pool vac done (brrrrrr!) and got the stairs taken out.... double Brrrr!!! Lots of green behind the stairs. Is that normal? Put the solar cover away and now we wait. It was about 74 degrees or so yesterday so I'm hoping after the 50's for highs this weekend I can put her to bed for good next week sometime.
Backflushed for the first time ever.....noticed some sand in waste water/glass view bulb. I hope it's nothing. We did full 2 min backflush and 1 min rinse.
Question:
We put on the rugged mesh winter cover to keep out leaves and used the winch and wire (PITA!) The wire striped near with winch with uncovered metal exposed and just seems kind of sloppy. We have a wide toprail with plastic pieces that go down the upright about 5" so the wire needs to go under that. Once we drain the water lower that may change that though.....just wondering if it would be ok to secure the cover without the wire and use 2" spring clamps only? Say 2-3 on each section of wall?

Re: Winter closing questions....

Yes they are sort of like wedding cake style. They don't curve around but are full steps into the pull. There are bars on the sides under water that allow water flow but I'm guessing not a lot and it's always dark there....

Re: Winter closing questions....

Originally Posted by linen

Could you move the steps away from the wall occasionally to let more chlorinated water circulate through them (is the back open)?

Not very easily. They are screwed into topplate and have 3-4 heavy sandbags on them underneath. They are open backed stairs so there should be flow behind them I just think the placement of them in relation to the return is not a good mix....maybe if we build a deck around the pool next spring we can make some adjustments.